Businesses warned to be careful of counterfeit currency

Saturday

Jan 11, 2014 at 12:01 AMJan 11, 2014 at 11:22 AM

After nearly a dozen confirmed reports of counterfeit bills being used in transactions in Taunton during the past six months, law enforcement officials are warning local businesses to be vigilant in checking currency’s authenticity.

Charles Winokoor

After nearly a dozen confirmed reports of counterfeit bills being used in transactions in Taunton during the past six months, law enforcement officials are warning local businesses to be vigilant in checking currency’s authenticity.

“Our No. 1 priority is to educate the public and businesses,” said Brian Deck, special agent with the Providence office of the U.S. Secret Service.

The number of reports of customers using fake bills in Taunton has spiked during the past month.

The most recent incident was on Wednesday when Taunton police responded to Dick’s Sporting Goods in the Silver City Galleria. At least three stores in the mall that day reported having taken in an estimated $300 in real-looking but phony bills.

Businesses along Route 44 have become popular targets for unscrupulous consumers looking to spend counterfeit cash.

The Hess gas station at 23 Cape Road reported Wednesday that they inadvertently accepted two fake $20 bills during transactions. A manager at Kentucky Fried Chicken, located nearly across the street at 20 Cape Highway reported finding two fake twenties in his cash drawer on New Year’s Day.

The week before at Prestige Car Wash, on the opposite side of the highway at 13 Cape Road, a manager told police a customer at tried paying for gas with a fake $20 bill.

She said he claimed he didn’t know it was fake and then paid with a legitimate bill, but he didn’t stick around to talk to police.

And on Dec. 29, a tweet was posted showing a woman suspected of passing counterfeit bills at the Raynham Walmart Supercenter. The tweet asks anyone with information to contact Raynham police.

Taunton police detective Robert Pavadore said most counterfeit bills look real enough at first glance. But he says touching them can be the tip-off. “It feels different,” he said.

Fellow detective Dora Treacy agrees: “They look real. But the paper a lot of times is a little thicker,” she said.

Pavadore said convenience stores, such as Grampy’s on High Street, are often targeted by people with counterfeit cash.

Grampy’s owner Alie Soufan said it’s been a year since he’s taken a fake $20 bill. In that instance, he said, the employee didn’t use a detection pen to check the bill’s authenticity.

But he said a week ago a different employee verified that a bill was phony as a customer was paying. The clerk called police to surrender the bill, and the customer returned to apologize.

“He said someone else gave it to him,” Soufan said, adding that he considers counterfeit currency “a big problem.”

It’s not just gas stations and convenience stores that are at risk.

The Farrell Backlund Insurance Agency on Dean Street last July reported to police that they unwittingly accepted two phony $100 bills. That same month, the CVS on Winthrop Street reported that the pharmacy had taken in a fake $20 bill.

Standard law enforcement procedure for local police who come into contact with counterfeit currency is to notify U.S. Secret Service.

Special agent Deck says notwithstanding the recent number of reports in Taunton, he doesn’t think there’s been an actual “spike” in counterfeit activity in the city.

“I’m aware of it. We track all reports and assist local police,” he said.

Deck said counterfeit activity in Rhode Island and Bristol County during the past three years has been “consistent.”

He said $20 bills continue to be the most popular bills for counterfeiting.

Deck urges every business dealing with paper currency to invest in a detection pen, which he calls “an OK start.” He said there’s also a step-up model that includes an ultraviolet light for detecting security designs on bills.

“It’s a nice additional feature,” he said.

Deck said it’s even more important for owners and managers to instill in their employees a sense of urgency when it comes to inspecting currency.

Most phony money being passed around nowadays, he said, is created by standard, store-bought ink-jet printers. It’s also not uncommon, Deck said, for a counterfeiter to remove the ink from a real bill and print on the lower-denomination paper.

But he said U.S. paper currency has more refined and effective features — such as color-shifting of numbers discernible when held up to the light, and polyester security threads.

Deck said the Secret Service was formed in 1865 specifically to combat counterfeit currency, which at the time accounted for one-third of all money in circulation.